JCL Blog

Dear Mr. President. I voted for you, or against Sarah Palin, but either way I decided to have hope -- just like you asked. However you slice it, it has been a bit bumpy since that day in 2008. If I had been writing your speech tonight I would have acknowledged that. You just cannot start the speech with a victory lap. The facts don't support it. Any effort to spin it -- just skewers your credibility. Even the choir has got to be wondering.

Here are a few other reactions:

Minimum Wage: I have run a small business and I think that like other business owners -- increasing wages by 39% ($7.25 to $10.10) will create all kinds of unintended circumstances. Most notably, people that get paid $10.10 have different skills than those at $7.25. The people you are trying to help by imposing this minimum wage, are going to lose their jobs to people possessing $10.10 in skills. It may take a year or so, but the people on the lowest rungs are going to lose.

Healthcare: Yes health care is a problem. I hope your efforts will produce positive results. So far, all you have done is dig a great big hole -- and if all you do is parade out the cancer and asthma victims -- you are doing us all a disservice.

Wars and the NSA: I stated that I wanted a president that would keep us out of wars. If I had been alive back in the day, the first Democrat I would have voted for would have been JFK. He stood up to the military and that was not easy. You are doing your best, but you are being out maneuvered on all fronts. You have expanded the kill lists, failed to close Gitmo, and got humbled in Syria and Libya. The next president is going to have to be a former general, just to clean this up. On the NSA, no one believes that you of all people could rein those guys in. They run the country. Let's just hope they don't get caught with Angela's mobile number again.

Aid for the Philippines: It is a miracle that the people of the Philippines still admire the USA. Our aid to date for our Filipino friends in the wake of typhoon Yolanda is a miserable $86 million. Just 27 cents for each American. Just $78 for each of the 1.1 million people impacted. By contrast, we give $3 Billion to Israel -- every year. 25 times as much -- every year. How your speech writers decided to herald aid to the Philippines as an American moment is another wonder of west wing management.

The next president that runs on an outsider image is going to lose. No one is going to fall for that head fake twice.

Let's hope we get back to serious leadership. We want the straight scoop. No more bla, bla, bla.